I have a Gretsch Renown Maple kit.. I love it. I decided to get a Fiberskyn head because I really like they way it looks. I found one on eBay with a off-center Gretsch logo, so I ordered it. It was a The Fiberskyn 3 Ambassador head. Right when it came in the mail, I slapped a kickport on it and put it on my drum. I played around with different tunings and I couldn't get it to sound good at all. It had this nasty overtone that I couldn't fix. Does anyone have any ideas of something I could do to make it sound good? It sounded good before, and it sounds good without the reso head on there. You would think that with the kickport, it would sound better, but I think that the head I ordered is the problem.

I'm not that familiar with that head, but I am familiar with Renowns. A lot of the drummers here use those. Gruntersdad is one of the administrators here, and I believe he plays a Renown with a KickPort, so maybe he will weigh in.

The way I have always tuned a bass drum is by putting the reso on first, and tuning it up pretty tight. Then I put on the batter and slowly tension it from finger tight, just to the point where it sounds good. I have a 22x18 bass drum and I originally had a Ludwig stock batter on it, and that wasn't giving me good results. I switched to an Evans GMAD and it fixed the issues immediately. I have a Ludwig ported reso and it sounds great. I switched reso's and it didn't alter the sound much at all.

There is a huge thread in the "Drums" section that deals with bass drum tuning. It's a lot to go through, but there will be more there.

i personally dont like kickports. they add way too many mids, and also the plastic flaps about (and is quite audible in a studio situation).

I also didnt have a great exerpeience with aquarian's super kick. i felt you had to tune it too high and it didnt really achieve the sound i liked. the impact on the other hand (with the thicker foam ring) was nice. i just use the force1 however (powerstroke 3 equivilant)

I have a 22x18 Renown with a SuperKickII on the batter side. I have an Evans white EQ3 on the front. I've only encountered one Kickport in the wild. They guy is in the industry and said that he was at some trade show and someone slapped it in there. He didn't think it was any improvement.

My experience of Fiberskyns is that there are fairly stiff and mostly suitable for higher tunings. I have some on my Safari toms. I agree that they look great on kicks but they aren't going to give a modern sound.

I've tried my Renown with the reso tight and loose, and settled on the looser side but still with a recognizable pitch and sustain. I play with the batter depending on the situation. A bit above JAW for when it's mic'd and tighter with some boom for un-mic'd gigs.

With the Fiberskyn, the only solution may be to completely kill it with some sort of damping. If you tune the SK low, you still should get a pretty solid punch with the front fairly tight and damped. I checked Dennis Chamber's set up at a clinic once and was stunned at how tight his reso was tuned. But it sounded killer

i personally dont like kickports. they add way too many mids, and also the plastic flaps about (and is quite audible in a studio situation).

Very much agreed- clunky installation and too much rattle for me.

You should try putting a slight amount of muffling on the resonant side or purchase a Powerstroke 3 with the Fiberskyn finish instead- the P3 has a muffling ring built in. And while you're at it you can get one for your batter side as well ;) (i love the powerstroke 3, if you couldn't tell.)

I have a Gretsch Renown Maple kit.. I love it. I decided to get a Fiberskyn head because I really like they way it looks. I found one on eBay with a off-center Gretsch logo, so I ordered it. It was a The Fiberskyn 3 Ambassador head. Right when it came in the mail, I slapped a kickport on it and put it on my drum. I played around with different tunings and I couldn't get it to sound good at all. It had this nasty overtone that I couldn't fix. Does anyone have any ideas of something I could do to make it sound good? It sounded good before, and it sounds good without the reso head on there. You would think that with the kickport, it would sound better, but I think that the head I ordered is the problem.

The fiberskyn is an interesting animal. I love the way they look but not always the way they sound. I got fortunate when I bought one for my Pearl free floater but I don't think it would sound that good on all snares. I think it has something to do with the natural/synthetic fibers of the skin...it's totally different than a regular plastic head.

I too have a fiberskyn as my reso on my shine kit. Same reason as you, they just look cool. I experienced bad tones coming from it as well. Mine is ported at 5 o'clock, but rather than a kickport I went with a simple hOlez mount. Anyway, if you're familiar with the evans EMAD batter side kick head, It comes with two foam rings to be used for your preference of muffling. I used the thick ring on the batter side evans EMAD head and used 3 small strips of duct tape to fasten the thinner ring to the fiberskyn for muffling. I don't use any other muffling in my bass drum. It sounds amazing now. It's that kind of bass that I feel in my chest when struck. Earth shattering, wall rumbling, deep bass sound. I love that bass drum now.

I too have a fiberskyn as my reso on my shine kit. Same reason as you, they just look cool. I experienced bad tones coming from it as well. Mine is ported at 5 o'clock, but rather than a kickport I went with a simple hOlez mount. Anyway, if you're familiar with the evans EMAD batter side kick head, It comes with two foam rings to be used for your preference of muffling. I used the thick ring on the batter side evans EMAD head and used 3 small strips of duct tape to fasten the thinner ring to the fiberskyn for muffling. I don't use any other muffling in my bass drum. It sounds amazing now. It's that kind of bass that I feel in my chest when struck. Earth shattering, wall rumbling, deep bass sound. I love that bass drum now.

Dude thats awesome!! LOL I was thinking about doing the exact same thing yesterday haha wow... I already have an EMAD head on my practice kick, so I think I'll just take the ring off there and put it on the Fiberskyn head

Dude thats awesome!! LOL I was thinking about doing the exact same thing yesterday haha wow... I already have an EMAD head on my practice kick, so I think I'll just take the ring off there and put it on the Fiberskyn head

Can't hurt to try it out man! Just fasten it to the underside of that fiberskyn and cut a notch out for the kickport. It worked for me , I hope it works out for you as well!